Michigan Dems urge Gov. Snyder to veto right-to-work (with video)

Michigan’s Democratic members of Congress met with Republican Gov. Rick Snyder Monday morning to urge him to veto pending legislation to make Michigan a right-to-work state.

“The governor listened and said he would seriously consider our concerns,” said U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan’s senior senator, by conference call following their morning meeting in Detroit. “We hope he’ll take it heart.”

The Michigan Legislature is poised to return to work Tuesday to reconcile right-to-work legislation passed by both the House and Senate Thursday into a single piece of legislation to send to the governor.

Levin said the Democrats urged Snyder to at least delay considering right-to-work legislation, arguing the people of Michigan should be allowed to vote on it.

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Protests are planned in Lansing tomorrow, and the city of Lansing has closed a number of streets surrounding the Capitol in anticipation of raucous protests.

Joining Levin on the conference call were U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and U.S. Reps. Sander Levin, Gary Peters, John Dingell, John Conyers, Hansen Clarke, and David Curson.

Sander Levin likened right-to-work law in Michigan to the national “fiscal cliff.”

“Nationally, we face a fiscal cliff,” he said. “We now face a Michigan cliff.

“Today, I think he still doesn’t understand what this is all about,” Levin said of Snyder.

The Levins said a right-to-work law in Michigan will cause “endless strife, endless controversy.”

Contact Charles Crumm at 248-745-4649, charlie.crumm@oakpress.com or follow him on Twitter @crummc and on Facebook. More information is at oaklandmichiganpolitics.blogspot.com.

About the Author

Charles Crumm leads the DataWorks team for Digital First Media in Michigan. He also covered politics for The Oakland Press. Read his Elections, Politics and Policy blog at http://oaklandmichiganpolitics.blogspot.com/. Reach the author at charlie.crumm@oakpress.com
or follow Charles on Twitter: @crummc.